Recent societal concerns over increasing out-of-wedlock births, mother- only families, and welfare-dependant families have brought the role of fathers as an important issue to the forefront of the political zeitgeist. Contrary to current stereotypes, researchers now believe that fathers play an important role in the cognitive and emotional development of their children. Within the broader group of fathers, research has documented that young, low income, African-American fathers are an important subgroup to study because they have unique experiences that affect their parental involvement, which can have deleterious effects on child development. Moreover, research has shown that African-American children reared in low-income, urban communities are at an increased risk for impaired cognitive and emotional functioning. Thus, the major goal of this study is to examine the relationship among relevant constructs that impact young, low-income, African American father involvement with their children. The proposed study employs a cross- sectional and longitudinal research design. The data for this study comes from a common data collection of low-income, mothers and fathers in 7 U.S. cities. In each city, mothers are asked to participate in an interview that takes place 24 hours after they give birth; the fathers are located with the mother's help. Multiple regression, cluster analysis, and structural equation modeling will be used to examine the impact familial relationships on father involvement. The results of the current study will be used to disseminate information that will hopefully lead to the decrease in health disparities that exists between children reared in low vs. middle income communities.